I’ve spent the last four decades of my life working with young people who see themselves as trapped behind a wall-less prison with no exits, who live their lives hidden in the shadows of invisibility as far as white society is concerned. They know all too well that their daily experience---whether it’s going to lousy schools, or succumbing to drug use and abuse, or being the victims of crime, lack of employment prospects, or economic despair and hopelessness---doesn’t matter unless it interferes with or disrupts the lives of the white mainstream. While deeply rooted in the racial fabric of our country’s history, life behind the wall-less prison remains a mostly untold story.
This paragraph resonated with me because it is something that still happens everywhere. People are judged and put worth to themselves by their skin color or race. It is sad to think that our society is so shameless that it can treat other human beings as nothing just because they look different or just aren't consider to be "white". The paragraph really makes you think of the injustice that many people of color experience in the hands of society because they are not consider to be desirable, and black communities are those that suffer the most. I think it is important to educate people of the effects of racism and that youths shouldn't be suffering or having to worry whether society thinks they are bad people or criminals when they are still figuring themselves out.